Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein pleads not guilty in New York court to trafficking girls for sex
- Well-connected financier, whose friends included Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, was previously convicted of paying young girls for sexual massages
Eleven years after letting Jeffrey Epstein off lightly with a secret deal, federal prosecutors made another run at putting the billionaire financier behind bars on sex charges, accusing him on Monday of abusing dozens of underage girls as young as 14.
The 66-year-old hedge fund manager, who once socialised with some of the world’s most powerful people, was charged in a newly unsealed indictment in federal district court in New York with one count of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. If found guilty, he could face 45 years in prison.
In rumpled prison fatigues, his hair unkempt with a cowlick, and sporting red slip-on jail trainers, Epstein spoke softly as he pleaded not guilty to two federal charges prosecutors said could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
While Epstein had little to say, Reid Weingarten, one of his three lawyers, wasn’t shy, assailing the government’s case. He blasted the two-count indictment, calling it a “redo” and saying it was based on “ancient” charges.
